Teach English in Yangpu Qu - Shanghai Shi

British english vs American EnglishAs with most languages differences in pronunciation, spelling, meaning, and usage occur quite often depending on the area or country in which it is spoken. The english language is a perfect example of this with many differences separating each english speaking country. While there are many different english speaking countries, American and British english are the two varieties that are taught in most ESL/EFL programs. Generally, both versions are deemed as correct but what is most important is that you are consistent with one or the other type, minimizing confusion in the classroom. By comparing British and American english it is quite apparent how diverse the language has become in a matter of a few hundred years. Before the Revolutionary War, American and British accents were relatively similar; both pronounced rhotic consonants, an example of this would be the ?R? in hard. Since then, the accents diverged but the english spoken in America has changed less drastically than accents in Britain. Towards the end of the 18th century, non-rhotic speech became very popular among the upper class in Britain. Eventually, this ?prestige? non-rhotic speech was standardized and has spread throughout England. In the united states most speech stayed rhotic except for a few exceptions, such as New York and New England, which became non-rhotic, most likely from the regions connections with Britain. irish and Scottish accents, however, remained rhotic. This of course is widely speculated and argued. There are many different types of British and American accents, there is no one true vernacular, and the language is constantly evolving its sound with the advent of new words and slang. Grammar in the english language also differs slightly between British and American english. The most common example of course is the Present Perfect tense, which in British english is used to describe an action that has occurred in the recent past that effects the present moment. For example, ?I?ve misplaced my keys. Can you help me find them?? In American english the use of the past simple in this situation is also permissible, ?I misplaced my keys. Can you help find them?? In this case using the past tense would be considered wrong in British english. Another example of British present perfect, ?I?ve just had lunch.? Whereas, in American english it would be, ?I just had lunch.? Likewise, British english would say, ?I?ve already seen that film.? Americans would say, ? I already saw that movie.? Another major difference can be seen with the usage of prepositions. British would play in a team, whereas Americans would play on a team. British would go out at the weekend, Americans would go out on the weekend. American and British english may also use a verb in the past tense in different manners. For instance, ?to dream? in the past tense in the united states is ?dreamed? whereas British would say, ?dreamt?. The same with ?learned? and ?learnt?. The phrasal verb to ?fill out a form? is American english. The British would say, ?to fill in a form.?Another miscellaneous vocabulary difference would be with the naming of rivers. British always put the name of a river after the word river, River Thames. Americans would put the name before, such as the Mississippi River. Obviously, there are major differences between British and American english when it comes to vocabulary and spelling. A lot of these differences come from the latin derived spellings, -our (British) and ?or (American) e.g. colour vs color. Also ?re (British) and ?er (American) e.g. centre vs center. Similarly, -ce (British) and -se (American). e.g. defence vs defense. There is also the greek derived spelling, such as -ise (British) and -ize (American). e.g. centralise vs centralize. Or, -yse (British) and -yze (American). e.g. analyse vs analyze. Also, -ogue (British) and -og (American). e.g. dialogue vs dialog. Other common differences in spelling are, fulfill (American) and fulfil(British), aging (American) and ageing (British), anesthesia (American) and anaesthesia (British). There are also many examples of different words with the same meaning, boot (UK) and trunk (US), petrol (UK) and gasoline (US), lorry (UK) and truck (US), chips (UK) and fries (US), holiday (UK) and vacation (US), lift (UK) and elevator (US), queue (UK) and line (US). There are many more differences along these same lines. However, as stated before the main point is that the teacher keeps a consistent pattern when teaching english. If it is at a British Academy, teach British english and if it is at an American Academy, teach American english. With all of the differences sometimes english can be quite confusing as George Bernard Shaw once said, ?The united states and United Kingdom are two countries divided by a common language.?